New NLP focus on the good and positive things because our strong skills and our successes will bring us further than anything else. Not the least, a good round of golf.

Using a mental score card will show you what you do well, and it will make you focus on your successes. Habits are an important part of golf. The better habits in your mental game the better your results.

Your mental score card could look like this:

Celebrate your successes rather than the opposite. Remember that every success you celebrate will build up your Good State, GDS and thereby your confidence and as result your game. Therefore, the above mental score card counts successes and not failures. Some people count failures, some people even celebrate failures and indulge in them. That will not build your confidence. Rather the opposite. Moreover, the further away you are from the good state the more it takes to get into the good state of mind again. Basically, you want to be in a good state of mind as much as possible because it will make it more likely that you get a good round of golf.

You use the mental score card by scoring yourself from 0-10 at each of the relevant fields. Give yourself 10 if you did the mental task successfully. There are 126 fields, and you would get 1260 points if you did everything correct. That is of cause not possible, but you use the mental score card to learn and grow. Make a base line when you start. Meaning, make your first mental score card and see how many points you got during a round. This is a crucial beginning because it will enable you to see your developments every time you do you mental score card again.

Here are the explanations for each column:

Fact finding:

Conscious or unconscious, you check many data points before you hit the golf ball. We also forget some of the things we should have known before the stroke. Relevant facts for a golf shot can be wind, grass, slope, and many other things.  Score this field at 10 if you got all data right before your swing. Score the Fact finding lower if you got the slope, the wind or something else wrong. 0 score is if you found absolutely no facts to your shot or if the facts you collected for the shot are completely wrong.

Analysis:

Analysis is what you do with the facts you found. You have all the facts right but if your analysis is wrong that will have an impact on the result of the golf shot.

Strategy:

Strategy and gameplan is the same. Maybe you had the perfect shot and it landed where you wanted it, but it turns out that your next shot isn’t in an optimal position.

Execution:

The actual golf stroke can be good or bad give it a 10 for a great shot and a 0 for a very bad shot. This book is not about swing mechanics or golf techniques, but it is important to know what you need to train. Also, you need to know if your swing, driver, iron, wedge, pitch, putter is the reason for your good or bad performance.

State of mind:

Were you at the right state of mind when doing the shot? Were you too tense, too anxious, too relaxed or were you at the exact right state of mind and the perfect level of anxiety?

Routine:

Pre-Shot routine, Post-Shot routine, Between-Shots routine and the Wait routine all need full attention when doing them. Did you do the routines right or did you just do the “anyway-shot”. Meaning you did the golf shot even though you were distracted.

Full focus:

Did you have full focus when hitting the golf ball or were you distracted.

The great American Professional Tour golfer Phil Mickelson is famous for at least one of his great rounds where he made a point not to do any “anyway” shots. If he was even the least distracted when doing his Pre-Shot routine, he would start all over again.

Tiger Woods even managed to stop his swing at the top of his back swing when he heard a camera click.

Avoiding anyway-shots is a great way to make sure you are in your comfort zone when striking the ball. It also makes sure you are in full focus when you need it.